Wanted a 5th wheel until we saw the Tiffin Allegro

asmith3 --

Two year ago when my wife and I were looking to upgrade to something larger than our 30 foot travel trailer to accommodate a growing number of grandchildren, we too were nearly set on the Grand Design Solitude including the fact that we would have to upgrade our 1/2 ton Chevy Silverado to a 3/4 / on ton truck. Before making those big purchases, we went to a large used motorhome consignment sale business in Houston to look at pre-owned motorhomes but with no intent of purchasing a motorhome.

Through luck / divine intervention that consignment sales business has a very gently used 2007 Damon Astoria diesel Class A at a price a bit lower than the price for a new Grand Design Solitude. And we didnt' have to spend a large chunk of money for a new 3/4 / one ton truck.

While purchasing anything "new" is exciting, before purchasing the new 2017 Allegro you may want to consider a gently used pre-owned motorhome home from a consignment business or from an on-line business like RVTrader.com to help lower your cost.

Hope these thoughts help!

Sounds like you are looking at a 36UA. Just remember it has a #4000 tow and plan that way. Guess you know my pick.

jim

"We figured if it does nothing but sit in the garage until it is called on to tow, then it is nothing more than a detachable motor home engine and we should get a motorhome that already has the engine in it"

I guess I never thought of it that way. We are considering switching to an A so thanks. I can buy a cheaper gasser pickup for hauling if I want to.

asmith3 wrote:
We already own the monster truck....but it is a bear to park because of the double wheels. Cannot see us finding a parking space for that one easily in a crowded beach town.

I had a lot of problems trying to park at some of the tourist sites. Once I had to drive back out of Omaha and park it and call a cab to get to a meeting downtown.

We figured if it does nothing but sit in the garage until it is called on to tow, then it is nothing more than a detachable motor home engine and we should get a motorhome that already has the engine in it :)

asmith3 wrote:
We had our hearts set on a Grand Design Solitude.....and the we took a look at the Tiffin Allegro Class A 2017 that had bunks for the grandchildren and the overcab bunk for their parents. It was soooo nice. Okay those that own a Tiffin....is it worth the extra cost. We see a Challenger that looks really nice too....but we keep hearing go with the Tiffin. Opinions?

Go look at a Prevost :B

We went from a Solitude 310GK and 2017 GMC 1 Ton SRW Diesel with 3722 payload going down the road about 300 lbs over our trucks GVWR and still wanted to add solar and generator which would put us over the axle ratings of the truck. I refuse to go to DRW truck and I'm not going to make excess why I can exceed the ratings of the truck.

Now we have a 2017 Fleetwood 40D DP with 5600 lbs CC and with more stuff loaded in the DP then the 5er will still have over 3560 lbs of CC left over. The ride is better and view is exceptional and setup is easy. We are hooked on the Class A and probably never go back to truck/camper. Now if I can only get my wife out the driver seat!!!

I would test drive a DP and see for your self. Along with the
Test you need to realize that with the DP you have less effects when those big tractor-trailer pass you than a gas one. A big difference.

Mile High wrote:
5th wheels are nice, but who wants to deal with the truck on a regular basis.

I don't have an issue with the truck as much as the hitching, unhitching, and other setting up and taking down.

The best way I've ever heard it described was "with a trailer the vacation starts as soon as the set up was done, with a MH the vacation starts as soon as you turn the key".

I also find driving our MH to be far less stressful than towing our TT, and I am towing with the right equipment.

We already own the monster truck....but it is a bear to park because of the double wheels. Cannot see us finding a parking space for that one easily in a crowded beach town.

asmith3 wrote:
We had our hearts set on a Grand Design Solitude.....and the we took a look at the Tiffin Allegro Class A 2017 that had bunks for the grandchildren and the overcab bunk for their parents. It was soooo nice. Okay those that own a Tiffin....is it worth the extra cost. We see a Challenger that looks really nice too....but we keep hearing go with the Tiffin. Opinions?

For us, there's never extra cost. We always choose a quality built coach and then drop back in the years until it fits our budget. No way, will we ever trade quality for newness, given the same dollar. I mean if it's cheap built, it's gonna stay that way and if it's quality built, it's gonna stay that way also.
In your case and story short, go for the Tiffin.
You mentioned a fiver, also and unless one already owns a monster truck for the big ones, then where's the savings?